Eggplant Campanata - Repurposed Leftover Vegetables

Since the 48 Hour Dinner Party had not gone exactly to plan, I was left with more vegetables than a single girl could possibly consume in a safe period of time. I’m talking four baby eggplants, two red bell peppers, two yellow bell peppers, two green bell peppers, two Vidalia onions, four tomatoes on the vine, plus a container of grape tomatoes. In fact, by mid-week, one green bell pepper had already decomposed on the counter, leaving behind a soupy mess. I could probably refrigerate (gasp!) the grape tomatoes until Monday and eat them as a snack and with dinner then. Otherwise, I definitely had to act to do something with the vegetables by the weekend.

Fortunately, that weekend I was headed north to my brother’s house for a two-day blowout with the clan. So even though he’s got a Costco card and said not to bring food, I knew that any contributions would not be turned away. The tomatoes I could bring as they were, as both my sister in law and I are fiends for good tomatoes. The eggplant, peppers, and onions were the making of one of my favorite Italian vegetable dishes called campanata. (Actually, I’m not really sure whether it is spelled “campanata” or “camponata” so I just go with whatever I like.) Of course, when I mentioned to my parents that I might make campanata for the weekend, they both responded enthusiastically. Mom planned to take some home with her if it there was any left over, which I was sure there would be. Aside from what I had on hand already, all I needed to finish the dish was a pound of sliced mushrooms, a can of tomato paste, and a can of black olives. That turned out to be a quick and easy trip to the grocery store.

Making the Recipe

Honestly, the most challenging part about making eggplant campanata is all the prep work that goes into it. I had to dice two onions and five peppers, as well as peel and cube four baby eggplant. The recipe doesn’t actually call for all those vegetables, but I was trying to use up what I bought for the ratatouille and fajitas for last week’s dinner party. The fun part of all the prep work was that I got to practice the knife skills that I learned at the cooking class with my dad last Saturday. So I used the fancy trick to dice the onions on most of them – one of them I had cut the root out so it would not work. I practiced my rocking motion, holding my knife straight up and down (not at an angle!), and keeping my finger off the top of the knife. Overall I did pretty well with cutting efficiently and effectively. Even peeling the eggplant went well, once I switched from the eight-inch chef’s knife to the more suitable paring knife, and then sharpened the paring knife so it would be up to the job. But overall, the prep work still took long enough that I needed to get it all done before hand rather than try to get it done in between recipe steps.

The recipe itself is fairly low drama: throw something into a sauté pan, sauté it for ten minutes, and throw something else in, repeat. It starts with the onion and garlic. Despite purchasing a head of garlic and having been gifted a nifty new silicone garlic peeler by my dad, I still opted for jarred minced garlic. Four in the morning was too early to mess with raw garlic!!! After that sautéed for five minutes, it was time to add the eggplant and sauté for about ten minutes. Once the eggplant was done sautéing, it was time to add the mushrooms and peppers. That sautéed for about ten minutes. Of course, by this time, I was very grateful that I had elected to use my largest sauté pan because it was pretty much overflowing! Once all the vegetables were done sautéing, then the tomato paste gets added. I like to rinse the can with white or red wine – whatever is open – to make sure that I’m getting all the tomato paste into the vegetables. Today I didn’t have any wine open, but I had a bottle of white handy in the refrigerator so I opened that. Since I had an unusually large volume of vegetables that was looking a little dry, I used two cans of wine. Once the tomato paste and wine is thoroughly incorporated into the mixture, the only thing left to do is add the oregano, salt, pepper, and chopped olives. Since the oregano looked scant compared to the volume, I doubled up on it. And I inadvertently forgot the scant amount of pepper. But, unlike last time, I did remember the olives.Once everything was in the pan, I let it cook down for twenty minutes or so, stirring occasionally so that the mixture wouldn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Fortunately, that portion of the recipe was so low maintenance that I was able to do it while I was doing other things in the kitchen. Mostly cutting strawberries in the space right next to the pan, so the pan never totally got out of control.

As soon as the eggplant campanata was done, I shoveled it into a clean plastic container and sealed it up to take up north. I set it aside with the leftover tomatoes in a bag so that neither would get left behind.


The Verdict

Despite all that was going on that morning, I managed to pull off the campanata in plenty of time prior to my departure. And it held up well on the car ride. In fact, I had taken my plate outside to eat with the nieces and my siblings to enjoy the nice weather. My dad made a point of coming outside to tell me that this was the best campanata that I had ever made – and I have been making it at least once a year for a decade or so now. My sister-in-law’s mother was also very complimentary and was asking all sorts of questions about the recipe and the process. So I think it was a hit.


The Recipe

Eggplant Campanata
I love this stuff. It is a great appetizer for an Italian meal, and a good side dish for beef.

⅓ cup olive oil
1 onion, coarsely chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium eggplant, peeled and cubed
2 green peppers, chopped
16 oz white button mushrooms, coarsely chopped
1 8 oz can tomato paste
White wine or red wine
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 can pitted black olives, chopped


1. Sauté onion, garlic and oil in a skillet on medium high heat for 5-6 minutes.
2. Reduce heat to medium low. Add eggplant. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add pepper and mushroom. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally
4. Add tomato paste. Rinse can with white wine to dissolve leftover paste. Stir to coat.
5. Add remaining ingredients, mix well and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes
6. Remove from heat, cover and chill

♥ For one of the Vigilia “seven fishes,” Dad mixed tuna with the campanata. Italian olive oil packed tuna fish is the first choice, and there is no second choice.